Additional Information
Cf. Old English strong verb clingan (cling), slincan (slink), spinnan (spin), stingan (sting), swingan (swing), gewinnan (win) and
wringan (wring).
Etymology
1. O.E.
spinnan "draw out and twist fibers into thread," from P.Gmc.
*spenwanan (cf. O.N., O.Fris.
spinna, Dan.
spinde, Du.
spinnen, O.H.G.
spinnan, Ger.
spinnen, Goth.
spinnan), from PIE
*(s)pen- "stretch" (cf. Armenian
henum "I weave," Gk.
patos "garment, lit. "that which is spun," Lith.
pinu "I plait, braid,"
spandau "I spin," M.Welsh
cy-ffiniden "spider;" see span (v.)). Sense of "to cause to turn rapidly" is from 1612; meaning "revolve, turn around rapidly" first recorded 1667. The noun meaning "fairly rapid ride" is from 1856. Meaning "attempt to influence reporters' minds after an event has taken place but before they have written about it" seems to have risen to popularity in the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign; e.g.
spin doctor, first attested 1984.
Spinning wheel is attested from 1404;
spinning-jenny is from 1783 (see jenny); invented by James Hargreaves c.1764-7, patented 1770. Slang
spin off (v.) is from 1957, from the noun phrase, which is first attested 1951, in a corporate sense.
2. From Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Dutch, German spinnen (“to spin”), Luxembourgish spannen (“to spin”), Yiddish שפּינען (shpinen, “spin”), Danish spinde (“to spin”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish spinna (“to spin”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk spinne (“to spin”), Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (spinnan, “to spin”). See: Middle English '
spinnen', Old English '
spinnan', Proto-Germanic '
*spinnaną', German, old spelling '
spinnen', Luxembourgish '
spannen', Danish '
spinde', Swedish '
spinna', Norwegian, nynorsk '
spinne'.
Verbs referencing "spin"
Bavarian spinna, Faroese
spinna, Icelandic
spinna, Swedish
spinna, Luxembourgish
spannen, German, old spelling
spinnen, Danish
spinde, Finnish with old forms
spinnata, Esperanto
ŝpini.